EU AMBASSADORS will get their first chance to debate the text of the legal guarantees the Government is seeking on neutrality, ethical issues and taxation at a meeting today.
After months of bilateral talks between Irish and EU diplomats, the Government finally supplied the first complete draft of the guarantees sought to member states yesterday.
The draft, obtained by The Irish Times, focuses on the three areas where the Government is seeking legally binding guarantees: taxation; neutrality; and ethical/social issues such as the right to life, family and education.
It also addresses the sensitive issue of workers’ rights and social policy, although in these areas the Government will not obtain legal guarantees, but obtain a solemn declaration. The final part of the draft text is a solemn declaration by Ireland, restating its position on the Lisbon Treaty.
The text addresses all the key issues the Government identified in its post-referendum research that prompted voters to reject the treaty. By persuading its EU partners to offer further clarification on these points, the Government hopes to persuade key sectors of the Irish electorate to change its mind when a second referendum is held later this year.
Great effort is made to ensure that the guarantees on ethical issues and neutrality are phrased in a very “Irish specific” manner and therefore cannot be interpreted to change the position for other EU member states.
For example, on the right to life, family and education issue, the guarantee stipulates that nothing in the treaty or in the charter of fundamental rights, which is made legally binding through Lisbon, will affect in any way the scope and applicability of the Irish Constitution. By specifically citing each article in the Constitution, the Government can identify the specific issues where Irish people may have concerns.
But it also should address fears in some EU states that the guarantees could affect their own citizens. One diplomat said last night it was crucial to ensure that the ethical guarantee did not in some way undermine the Government’s commitment to all the existing EU rights it has signed up to in successive EU treaties, such as non-discrimination on the basis of religion.
“We can’t have a situation where a foreign teacher could not be employed by an Irish school because of her religion or because she had an abortion,” said the EU diplomat.
The text on neutrality is the most comprehensive of the legal guarantees. “The Lisbon treaty does not affect or prejudice Ireland’s traditional policy of military neutrality,” it says, and goes on to address the related issues of conscription, military expenditure and even whether Ireland must come to an EU state’s aid if it is attacked by terrorists.
In each of these three specific cases the guarantee clarifies that the Government retains sovereignty over decision-making in these areas. It also makes clear that Ireland is not compelled to be a member of the European Defence Agency – a body that helps member states co-ordinate their spending, research and training activities in the defence area.
The text says the guarantees are a decision of the heads of state and government of the 27 EU member states. It makes no mention of the possibility of having the guarantees enshrined in the treaty through the ratification of a protocol by national parliaments. This remains a controversial issue that will be decided by EU leaders at the summit this week.
The Government said it was hopeful a final deal could be agreed on the text at the EU summit, though drafting changes are expected over the next few days.